It is clearly recorded in Su Wenyi's Theory of Law and Prescription: "The central people, whose land is flat and wet, and all things in the world, eat miscellaneous food without fatigue, so their illness is flaccid cold and heat, and their treatment should be guided by pressing stilts, so those who press stilts will also leave the central government."
The center refers to the Central Plains of China, which is equivalent to Luoyang, Henan Province, and was the activity center of Huangdi tribe at that time. Therefore, the translation of this ancient prose into modern vernacular means: Luoyang area has flat terrain, mild climate, suitable cold temperature and rich products. Luoyang people eat well but lack exercise, and are prone to diseases such as paralysis, syncope and heat injury. To treat these diseases, it is advisable to adopt the methods of persuasion and massage to promote the circulation of qi and blood. Therefore, guided massage first appeared in Luoyang and spread from Luoyang.
When the ancestors encountered accidental injuries in the competition for survival, they felt the pain relieved or relieved by touching the affected area with their hands, thus gradually discovering its special therapeutic effect and forming this unique therapy in the long-term practice. According to "On Su Wenyi's Law and Prescription", it comes from Zhongzhou, China by the method of webbed feet. This is because the life in this area is comfortable, the environment is humid, and the people are "weak and sick, with mixed cold and heat, so their treatment should be guided by webbed feet." In the Tang Dynasty, Bing Wang thought that "pressure" was to suppress the body; Web, that is, flexible hands and feet, shows that this therapy not only has body surface massage and rubbing techniques, but also physical activities of carrying water bottles. Neijing also introduces the indications and contraindications of this therapy, and points out that all kinds of arthralgia, pain, flaccidity and some emergencies can be treated by massage, but abdominal abscess patients should not be treated by cutting pressure, which reflects the profound understanding of this therapy in the pre-Qin period. During the Warring States Period, Bian Que, a famous doctor, successfully used massage and other treatment methods when rescuing Prince Guo's sudden illness (Note on Zhou Li), which is the earliest literature record about this treatment method. China's first massage monograph, The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic of Qi Bo Jing, has ten volumes (see History of Han, Art and Literature, which has been lost), and it was also written in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, introduced cardiopulmonary resuscitation and ointment therapy by pressing chest to save heartbeat and respiratory arrest. First aid methods for patients with claw syncope in elbow backup first aid prescription.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, massage specialties were established, including doctors, masseurs and masseurs, and organized teaching activities were carried out in Chinese medicine.
In the Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, massage was more widely used. For example, Pang Anshi, a doctor in the Song Dynasty, said, "When a woman is pregnant, she will have children. After seven days, she stopped giving birth, and all her skills failed ... so that her family could warm their waist and abdomen with soup and massage themselves up and down, and pregnant women would feel slight pain in their stomachs and groan and give birth to a man. "She induced labor with massage. In Song Dynasty, Chen Zhi's book "Offering for the Aged" suggested that the old people often rub Yongquan point, which can make them walk lightly and be full of spirit in their later years.
Later generations listed massage as a clinical specialty, which promoted the popularization and development of massage therapy. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, on the basis of summarizing the clinical experience of massage therapy, many unique massage therapy methods were developed, and many different schools were formed, with dozens of related monographs.
Using the skills of hands and fingers to treat diseases through continuous movement on human skin and muscle tissue is called massage therapy.
According to China's historical records, famous doctors in Qin Dynasty used massage therapy to treat the corpse of Prince Guo. It has been more than 2,000 years since the Qin Dynasty, so massage has a long history in China. The earliest massage book in China is The Yellow Emperor Massage Sutra (ten volumes, see Hanshu). "Yi Wen Zhi"), you can borrow the dead. However, in the existing classic medical book Huangdi Neijing, there are many references to massage. For example, "blood gas-shape-spirit" is frightening, the meridians are blocked, and the patients are inhuman. Treat with massage mashing medicine. "On the Appropriate Prescriptions of Different Laws": "The people in the Central Committee are flat and wet, and everything in the world is omnivorous, so they are sick and weak, cold and hot. It is appropriate to guide the press. " It can be seen that massage therapy has been used for a long time in ancient times to treat numbness, flaccidity, syncope, dampness and cold and heat of limbs.